Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Take a look at this article. The write makes some good points about reading things on the web. I think the best is the first:

Don't take things at Face Value

Even if the article was written by an unquestioned expert take the time to question it. The author says

. . . every article ever written has something in common: they were all written by a person, and as much as we’d all like to be perfect, sometimes we get things wrong.

Yep, and sometimes the writer has some sort of motive. Whether it's to get you to vote a particular way or to buy something or even to continue reading to support the advertising on the site. Be cautious and take note of that nagging little voice in your head.

Question, try, comment, and participate to get the best out of an article. Mull it over, just because it appears on the web doesn't mean that it is gospel.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

I have said it before in posts on this and other blogs. But, yesterday, one of the impacts of this statement was brought home to me by my teenage daughter. She said she did not receive an invitation to a party because she was not on Facebook. The implication among her peer group is that everyone is on Facebook. She isn't. We see no reason for her to go there an share the personal details of her life with the world and, perhaps, cause other harm by posting things that shouldn't be there. By we, I mean her parents and my daughter.

But this is one of the consequences of this decision. The question becomes, should it be a consequence? Should I be forced onto some social media platform in order to be included in the group? What is our society becoming that we can't communicate except by friending someone on a particular platform. Sure, it's a great deal for advertisers and others who make money off the platform, but is it such a great deal for the society as a whole?

I, personally, think that the more direct contact methods, e-mail, text, phone, even physical mail are preferable for this sort of thing. Heck, the user could even send and e-vite that comes to a person's e-mail, thus not forcing them to join a social media platform just to be part of the group.

Maybe we should form our own group . . . the "Don't force me to join" group . . . or maybe UNgroup.